Do Motor Difficulties in Infancy Predict 7-year-olds’ Behavioural Health? Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

TL;DR

Fine-motor skills in infancy are linked to better behavioral health in 7-year-olds, while gross-motor skills are not.

Contribution

This study identifies fine-motor skills in infancy as a novel predictor of later behavioral health outcomes.

Findings

Children with higher fine-motor skills at 18 months had lower odds of behavioral health issues at 7 years.

Gross-motor skills at 18 months did not predict behavioral health outcomes at 7 years.

Infants with below-average fine-motor skills had significantly higher rates of behavioral symptoms later.

Abstract

To examine whether fine- and gross-motor skills in infancy predict child behavioral health at 7 years of age.

Longitudinal cohort data from 6,709 English children were analyzed using regression techniques to investigate whether fine- and gross-motor skills at 18 months, measured by Denver developmental categorized age-adjusted Z-scores, predicted behavioral health at 7 years of age, measured by the total-score on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

A dose-response relationship exists between fine-motor skills at 18 months and behavioral health at 7 years of age. In fully-adjusted models, (cumulative sociodemographic risk, sex, history of maternal psychological difficulties, gross-motor skills, and gestational age), the odds of experiencing clinical levels of behavioral health symptoms at 7 years of age decreased as fine-motor skills increased. Odds ratios were 0.5 (95% CI 0.2-1.3) for children with below, 0.3 (95% CI 0.1-0.8) for slightly-below, 0.2 (95% CI 0.1-0.4) for average and, 0.1 (95% CI 0.1-0.4) for above-average fine-motor skills compared to children with well-below fine-motor skills. Children with well-below, below, and slightly-below-average fine-motor skills reported almost 6-times, 3-times and double higher rates of clinical behavioural health symptoms at 7-years compared to children with average or above fine-motor-skills. Gross-motor skills were not prognostic of later behavioural health.

Infants with any level of fine-motor difficulties had higher rates of parent-reported behavioural health symptoms at 7-years. Fine-motor but not gross-motor skills in infancy are predictive of poor behavioural health at 7-years. Examining how numerous factors such as motor skills, gestational-age and sociodemographic risk combine to predict risk of poor behavioural health may be more useful than considering any individual predictor in isolation.

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